BONUS CONTENT: Database: Brimia Plans

Ahh, the last remnants of my MIT architectural schooling. Money well spent!

These are the floor plans I drew up many, many years ago, before I started the artwork on the first RUNNERS story arc. I needed to figure out the layout of the ship so that things would make sense once I got to drawing the interiors.

A few things to note: right behind the cockpit, the plans show a small nook with a console station. At the time I thought it would be a nice halfway station between the common area and the cockpit, but in reality, the distance isn’t that great that it would need a halfway point. I’ve since changed it to a small cot, which makes a bit more sense. Anyone on flight duty can take a nap there if necessary, but still be just a few steps away from the cockpit if any emergencies arise.

On the cargo level, I figured the freighter originally had three cargo bays: a big one towards the front, with two smaller ones behind it. Roka at some point converted one of them to a medical bay and additional bedroom. Unlike the bedrooms up top, this larger one is meant to accommodate two people, so that would be Cember and Bennesaud.

All of the Mosquito-related bits are modifications added by Roka, which includes the spacesuit storage, armory, Mosquito link, and the Mosquito itself. The standard version of the Movian freighter obviously doesn’t need the extra shuttle/fighter, so those parts were specifically added to the Brimia due to the hazardous nature of their work.

Bear in mind that this is a pretty old schematic, so I may be changing some things. For one, maybe each bedroom will have its own small bathroom. The single communal bathroom seems a bit odd for a ship housing so many people. But then I guess it could make for some nice scenes of Sky walking back to her room in a towel after a shower. 🙂

Discussion (4) ¬

In my designs for starships (I’m a gamemaster of many roleplaying games, going back 23 years so you know where I am coming from when I say this) is that every ship has its own needs but usually errs on the side of Spartan. Submarines are a good example to think about. Fewer parts, fewer rooms, smaller living spaces, larger cargo spaces, tucking all the support machinery wherever you can and making it as efficient as possible. But on the other hand, there is a tendency to have starship manufacturers take into consideration creature comforts in ships that they expect are people’s homes as well as their livelihoods.

So I think everyone having their own bathroom, even a tiny one with integrated toilet/sink/shower/fresher/laundry/whatever would be less plausible than a single, communal one. Yet individual rooms still seem like an amiable solution on a ship of this size – the bulk of a heavy freighter with the habitation load of a medium freighter, they can afford a little “wasted” space to give full, comfortable quarters to each person.

Of course you could also say that Roka is a homey kind of guy, knowing that a little comfort goes a long way, and that each of those cabins were originally a double bunk crew cabin that he converted to be a cozy one person cabin. Which kind of makes sense if you consider that the ship has 4 standard cockpit stations and, if I remember correctly, 3 escape pods, it could be designed around a 6 to 9 person crew.

Sorry for blathering on where I am probably not welcome. I am just a little passionate and talkative about starship design.

Awesome deckplans. I love the exterior of the ship and was always wondering if you would get around to (or ever want to bother) with deckplans. I too am a long time SciFi RPG gamemaster, and apreciate a nicely drawn set of deckplans.

Exxos, no apologies necessary! You actually make some good points, especially about the communal bathroom. I’ve been on the fence with that one, and maybe I’ll lean back towards keeping it as is. It does kinda make sense, and it may provide some more interesting story opportunities for character interaction going to and from that wouldn’t exist with individual bathrooms in each room. Come to think of it, that might have been my original thinking way back when I designed the layout, but it’s been so long now, I can’t remember!

And Tazz2060, I’m glad you love the exterior of the ship as well. Maybe some day I’ll do some sort of 3/4-angle exploded view of both the exterior and interior, kinda like the diagrams in the Star Wars Cross-Section books from DK. That would be pretty cool, although I’m not sure where I’d find the time.

In hindsight, if the bathroom features a kind of space station vacuum system, everything is good. Otherwise there is also the issue of Cember’s and Bennesaud’s functions. The rest of the crew probably keep their excretory facilities in the same general regions – so a humanoid toilet works. But then we have Cember and his form does not favor that, maybe an asian squatting version. And Bennesaud? No idea, he might not even do that. So there might be a precedent for arranging a modification just to serve the needs of other species’ forms – otherwise you get something like Cember going in the shower or something.